Business

Producer prices in U.S. rose in 2013 by least in five years

Wholesale prices in the U.S. climbed in December for the first time in three months to cap the smallest annual increase in five years, showing companies face little pressure to charge more.

The 0.4 percent increase in the producer-price index matched the median estimate of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and followed a 0.1 percent drop in November, a Labor Department report showed Wednesday in Washington. The so-called core measure, which excludes food and energy, climbed more than forecast, led by the biggest surge in tobacco costs since 2007.

The 1.2 percent advance for the calendar year was the smallest since 2008, when the financial crisis made the recession that began in December 2007 even worse. Scant signs of accelerating inflation have given Federal Reserve policymakers room to move gradually as they wind down their unprecedented asset-purchase program.

"Pipeline inflation pressure is still pretty well contained," said Gennadiy Goldberg, a U.S. strategist at TD Securities USA LLC.